New guy, new to me boat, 1999 Alpina Velocity, with questions.
 

Hello guys, got a new boat and have some questions.
Started my boat life with a 78 Reinell tri-hull, then on to a 92 Bayliner 1850, now to this one. I must say I'm in love with it.
Did as much research as Google would allow on Alpina, got the whole Calabria backstory, it's odd that my boat is titled as a Calabria.
It seems to be a pretty solid boat, I've changed a few of the faria gauges, upgraded cabin speakers to db652, has a punch sub, 1200.5 pioneer amp, with tower speakers. I've ordered everything for. Tune-up, changed impellar, thermostat, all fluids.
Interior is in good shape, with the exception of the back seats and sun deck. I got a quote for just the back seat bottom and it came in at 275, seemed kinda high to me. Thinking about using the http://www.copycatupholstery.com instead.
With the boat having forest green carpet (which is in great shape still) not sure if I should add a little color to the inside or not. I was thinking either some forest green stripes, or gray stripes in the back, or just forest green or gray piping. What do you guys think?
Here are some pics. Paid 8000 for the boat.

Nice find for 8k! Looks to be in great shape also for its age.
I'm pretty sure Alpina contracted Calabria to build them the boats and they rebranded them

Thanks I'm pretty happy with it.
I had not heard of the contracting part of the story. Could explain why it's titled as a Calabria.
Anyone has any insight on my color options?

Geez, I thought you all would be more excited than my wife was. Guess not.

AYYYYY! letsgo throw some fat sacs in there and get after it, looks good WW is a pretty sleepy forum in general 99 percent of people dont comment on anything so dont worry lol.

Ah I see, i come from some pretty active forums.
Good to know though. Thanks

I wouldn't change the piping or accent color on just one or two pieces of upholstery . If you were gonna do the whole boat I'd say yea do a piping change but it would look a bit strange to have only a couple pieces different from everything else.

Ya your prolly right. Maybe i'll just leave it the same color.

Great find!

That's interesting, different from the Auto world. For instance, it you buy a Honda built by Isuzu, you get a Honda title.

Holy sh*t, that is my old/first boat! We sold it around 7 years ago. When I had it, it was titled as an International Inboard which was Calabria. It is definitely an Alpina as I removed the factory badging. From my understanding Mark Lawhead at Portland Ski Boat Center (Now Stancraft) started Alpina as a budget brand. It was a bit of a stripped down Calabria.

That's awesome Rob. Don't know why it would be titled something different now.
What did you think of it when you had it. How was the wake, any wake surfing? Anything interesting you can tell me about it? Hours you may of put on it, problems you ever had, what kind of maintenance did you do? Remember who you sold it to?

Crazy that you took the decals off 7 years ago, can still see them dam things in the right light.

Wife is excited thats always good! We're excited too tho!

Some accent upholstery would liven it up for sure, but agree you shouldn't just do back seat. Would look funny...

Those DDs are a breeze to work on! Miss mine when it comes time for maintenance.

Solid rig. Enjoy the colder months getting her ready for spring.

Anyone have any thoughts on what can I do to liven up the interior a little, other than a full replacment.

You can trow some LEDs in there. Cheap and easy. Only fun in the dark!!

I thought about that, but just don't spend much time at night.

Personally I wouldn’t bother with changing anything right now unless you absolutely have to. Save your $$$ for any maintenance items or issues that may need addressing once you start running the boat regularly cuz that stuff can get expensive. Or save for an upgrade in the future ... maybe to a v-drive with more bells and whistles. Basically, enjoy it while it’s cheap.

That's great advice, but unfourtunatly I can't handle cracked or torn vinyl.

And that's fine. Fix what's really bad or cheap. Spending $500 to fix a couple bad seats is fine. Spending 3k+ on a new interior is bad. If you are on a budget then I'd steer clear from updating things that don't need updating. Restoring a boat will never get you your money back.

I'm on my third boat in as many years. The first one I spent alot of money (new interior, new trailer and lots of small updates). I enjoyed the process but I lost 3k on that boat over the 2 years I owned it. Personally I don't regret it as I learned a ton about Inboards and knew alot more when I got boat number two.

I wasn't planning on buying boat number two, but I wanted to put a tower on the boat I had. Then I found a good deal on a V drive with a tower and realized that it would be cheaper to get the new boat then it would to add the tower and I'd have better resale on the new one.

If you want a nice new looking boat, you are better off buying a boat in that condition or as close to it as possible then trying to fix a boat up. If you want to learn and fix something, then that's fine but it'll cost you more.

Basically use the boat, that's what it is for. Get as many hours out of it as you can over the season. Have fun and don't worry about vinyl pipping. If you want a cooler looking boat, buy a cooler looking boat, don't waste money try to convert the boat you have and don't put a wrap on it.

Looks in great shape for its age, good luck